A leaker splattered footage of a Grand Theft Auto 6 build across the internet this week, irking a studio that had instituted extraordinary security measures to prevent that very thing from happening. I produced a radio spot on the leaks and the mounting GTA hype, tied to the amusing news that a US army unit in Georgia offered returning soldiers four days off to play GTA6 should they re-enlist by mid-November, when the game comes out.
My far lengthier gaming segment this week came in another 1A appearance. I joined host Jenn White and Kotaku Senior Writer Rebekah Valentine to talk about the recent glut of game remakes and remasters — a trend I’m resigned to but occasionally piqued by. The best of these projects dust off flawed but important work. I’m intrigued by the upcoming Silent Hill 1 and The Witcher 1 remakes, for example.
Yet too often, remakes merely reheat old stories and sand off the jagged edges that gave something its unique character. Worst of all, they sometimes lead to original titles disappearing from storefronts, as companies push their latest, full-priced products over past editions.
I also made a broader point I wish I’d phrased better — I tried to invoke Final Fantasy 9 as an example of a storied game series already looking backward as early as 1999 (a whoopsie — FF9 came out in 2000). Obviously that game isn’t a remake, but exists on the nostalgia continuum between spiritual successors and sequels. I came around to a defensible argument by the end of my answer, at least!
While we discussed well over a dozen games, I neglected to mention the remake I’ve played the most these days, much as it could annoy me. Halo: Campaign Evolved is exactly the sort of unnecessary retread to raise my hackles. Modern graphics don’t really aid the experience: the self-indulgent cutscenes slow the pacing and the detailed environments obscure the action.
Yet as often as we questioned the remake’s choices, my bro-in-law and I enjoyed the excuse to dive into split-screen co-op. His memories of the original campaign were keener than mine. He directed us to exploit the level design: piling Warthogs into narrow corridors they weren’t made for and racing (unsuccessfully) to snatch Banshees away from their Covenant pilots. Campaign Evolved is hard to recommend as a $50 release, but if you’ve got Game Pass and a co-op buddy, it’s worth a shot.
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